


what seems to be endless

by myriadslashes



Category: End Roll (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Gen, Kinda, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 20:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20645198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myriadslashes/pseuds/myriadslashes
Summary: It had been over a week, and he knew he wasn't supposed to be here.





	what seems to be endless

It was day eight of his Happy Dream.

It had been over a week, and he knew he wasn't supposed to be here. 

Russell looked at each item in his room that – just like him – didn't belong there. Several scattered pieces of paper. A bloodied knife, a strange growth from the hospital, vines tracing the upper corners of the walls. 

He'd made a choice, and he still wasn't sure if he'd made the right one. 

Russell stepped out of the room, of his house with the eyeballs and the garden of popped balloons.

He was soon greeted by a familiar face. One who invited him to go out on patrol with her. Russell faltered a little; this felt so  _ normal _ – but then his gaze caught the warped fences around them, twisted and coloured red, a dark contrast to the ones that still clung on to this farce of a reality. 

(He couldn't ignore, once again, the charred, corroded mailbox next to him.)

There was the problem; he knew this was a lie. He knew he couldn't stay here forever. But he couldn't bear to leave. 

"I'm kinda worried about the other towns, so it'd be great if I could get yer help-"

(The look on her face was distressing.)

Russell agreed to go immediately, if only to get away from the nameless town being increasingly warped, but then realized that the state of the other towns must have reached an even worse point. Then, he thought, at the very least, he could spend time with her.

He didn't want to think about what would happen when the nameless town and its residents started to collapse as well. 

* * *

On the way to Darcover, he came to a conclusion.

After learning about guilt, knowing what he had done to them,  _ this  _ was something that would make him feel that he had atoned.

He would see them crumble, watch the only friends he'd ever had fall apart, stand helpless as everything slowly disintegrated around him, eventually leaving only himself in an empty world. This would bring him suffering. This would make him suffer the same way  _ they  _ did --

And yet, still, he wondered if it meant anything. He wondered if he was only being selfish; if he was only doing this to make himself feel better, all while dragging the rest of the dream residents further into the madness, down together with him. 

The entire journey was silent; he was contemplating his own thoughts, with his companion only giving a concerned glance every now and then. 

Russell peered into the area, saw the warped residents, their petals twisted and their faces morphed, and felt what he'd decided he needed to feel. 

* * *

Some time later, the dream had collapsed.

(It was almost merciful.)

He expected to find himself in blankness, dead, unconscious, reliving what he'd seen over and over. 

But somehow, Russell found himself back at his Villa. The same one he'd purchased so long ago. 

It was in its original state. The streams around it ran clean, the floors devoid of stains, the Incarners welcoming, and as he strode into the building, he spotted signs of it having been lived in. Chairs pulled from their usual spot, doors slightly opened, and a delicious smell wafting from the restaurant area.

It'd been the last area to collapse. He'd brought everyone there, and they'd watched the world become more distorted and wrong around them, until it eventually reached them as well. 

(Of all the things he had witnessed, it may have been the worst.)

He thought back to the Book Graveyard, hidden in a nondescript building beside the Villa, and how it housed the person representing himself. He wondered if  _ he _ had something to do with this, considering his last words to him.

Russell wondered if he deserved this at all. To have his dream brought back, perfectly fine... 

(Or had he already died, and was this…?

Maybe the beliefs of the priest and his sister weren't so unfounded after all.)

**Author's Note:**

> found this old thing recently and decided to post b/c this is still such a good game ,,,


End file.
